[FRA:] The Enlightenment Project

[matthew piscioneri]

Dear Frankfurters,

below is a little fable composed for a political philosophy tute group of 
mine. Any constructive comments are welcome; any destructive comments 
unavoidable ;-).

best

mattP

The Enlightenment Virus

Deep in the jungles of Belize, in a very sophisticated laboratory, a team of 
scientists has worked in secret to perfect what they codename: the 
Enlightenment Virus. Brought together and funded by maverick 
multi-billionaire software mogul Bull Goates and Icelandic rock star Bene, 
the team of scientists has developed an extremely contagious and effective 
virus that neutralizes regions in the cerebral cortex that stimulate the 
competitive-instrumental instinct in human beings.

Once infected with the virus, test-subjects have displayed the rapid loss of 
competitive or instrumentalizing impulses. In particular, tendencies to 
instrumentalize others as means for self-centred ends have been eliminated 
altogether. Extensive psychological testing also reveals a completely 
renewed, non-instrumental attitude on the part of test-subjects to nature. 
Perhaps most remarkable of all is that after a period of less than two 
months, testing of subjects’ moral consciousness indicate a radical 
transformation in the test-subjects’ moral worldview. In place of the 
subjectivist inclinations that previously shaped their moral attitudes, the 
subjects now display a thorough-going moral universalism.

The scientists, as well as Goates and Bene, are thrilled beyond their 
wildest dreams. They believe that at last they have created the means to 
establish peace on earth and to finally bring about the long-hoped for 
reconciliation between the human species and the rest of nature. The team 
sees in their discovery the redemption of the human species. Releasing the 
Enlightenment Virus into the population at large, they believe, signals 
humankind’s recovery from the Fall from Grace.

However, just days before the scheduled release date of the virus, a 
feverish Goates has a vision. He foresees the extraordinary impact the 
Enlightenment Virus will have on the future of humankind. Alongside all the 
obvious goods, there are other drastic consequences no one in the team has 
yet imagined. On the one hand, it is as if Lennon’s dream in “Imagine” is 
played out in reality. Almost overnight, wars (including that between the 
sexes), hunger and poverty are eliminated. Crimes and violence disappear (as 
does celebrity worship). Massive environmental restoration is commenced. The 
carnivorous holocaust inflicted for eons by human animals against other 
species, stops. Goates foresees a future that is even more wonderful than 
that prophesized by Kant as the reign of a perpetual peace.

Yet Goates sees something else. An interesting side effect of the 
Enlightenment Virus is the nulling of the sex drive in women and men of all 
ages, races and sexual preference. Heterosexuals as well as homosexuals just 
aren’t interested anymore in getting it on. Marcuse’s (or was it Adorno’s?) 
infamous procreative regime is dismantled. Florists, restaurants, online 
dating services and chocolate shops everywhere go bust. Maternity hospitals 
and schools empty. Pharmaceuticists, sex counselors and divorce solicitors 
face ruin. The list is endless. This not only compounds the extraordinary 
effects already wrought by the abolition of the military-industrial economy, 
but the ongoing biological reproduction of the human species is drawn into 
question.

Bene finds Goates visibly shaken: “What’s up Bull?” he asks. “You don’t look 
so well.” Bull lifts his head from the cradle of his clammy hands. 
“B..B..Ben..Bene…”, he stutters. “I am not all th..tha..that sure we are 
doing the right thing.” He goes on to outline the nature of his concerns. 
“Bull, pull yourself together.” Bene snaps. “Let’s have a scotch or three 
and talk this thing over.” Bull lifts himself wearily from his beanbag. Bene 
throws a comforting arm around Bull’s shoulders and together they head for 
the bar.

The two men drink and think for what seems hours. Finally they decide to 
consult with Gore Divas, an old chum of Bull’s from his radical Berkeley 
days, and a philosopher who has been providing counsel as part of the 
broader research team. Whilst a committed futurist and card-carrying member 
of the Extropian Society, Gore also senses something of a sticking point in 
the project’s rationale. Surely, , Divas reasons, a plan that seeks to 
develop a universal moral universalism needs universal assent. Recognizing 
the impracticality of obtaining universal assent, Divas recommends to Goates 
and Bene they surreptitiously solicit opinions from a diverse group held to 
be broadly representative of humankind. (The opinions of animals or the rest 
of nature cannot be sought, and even if they could it is thought their 
responses would be distorted by excessive self-interest!)

Much to the chagrin of other members of the research team, the release date 
for the Enlightenment Virus is put on hold. Over a period of weeks, the 
members of the focus group Divas has assembled in Davos, Switzerland are 
furtively questioned by Bene and Goates. Leading politicians, economists and 
philosophers, the Dalai Lama, the Ayatollah and the Pope, as well as 
supposedly “non-expert” or “ordinary” children, women and men of all ages, 
creeds, beliefs and intellects, in all several thousand people, are 
consulted on the following questions:

1.	“Would you assent to the creation of a world in which all wrongs were 
righted, in which peace and harmony reigned, in which human happiness was 
assured (etc etc etc)?”

2.	“Would you still assent if this world could only be achieved by 
permanently altering the human genome?”

3.	“Would you still assent if a side effect of this alteration was the 
eventual extinction of the human species?”

Susequently, Goates and Bene return to their jungle laboratory and analyze 
the results. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of participants have given 
an affirmative answer to #1. Perhaps also not surprisingly, a clear majority 
responded negatively to #2 and a substantial majority no to #3.

Divas makes the interesting point that the infected laboratory test-group 
answered “yes” unanimously to all questions. But, Bene’s and Goates’ minds 
have been irrevocably changed. They decide they must not proceed with the 
Enlightenment Project.

Calling the research team together, Bene and Goates glumly mount the 
elaborate podium constructed in anticipation of celebrating the global 
release of the Enlightenment Virus. Already, in thousands of locations 
around the world, special agents have secreted the virus in remotely 
controllable dissemination devices. The devices restlessly lie in wait for a 
satellite-guided release signal initiated by the strangely insignificant 
green button on the lectern at which Goates and Bene now stand poised. 
Always enjoying a sense of theatrics, Bene has convinced Goates to arm the 
signal button in order to symbolically disarm it at the climax of their 
presentation. Behind the men a huge 10m monitor screens their every move. 
Dramatically zooming in on the men’s tense faces and then sharply cutting to 
the armed, blinking green button.

The two take turns explaining to the dismayed team of researchers their 
reasons for abandoning the Enlightenment Project. The gathered crowd is 
numbed. “And finally,” Goates announces, “Let me say to each and everyone of 
you: we have not failed to bring enlightenment to the world. No, far from 
it. Indeed, as my good friend Bene and I now terminate the Enlightenment 
Project in the company of those who have worked so hard and brilliantly to 
create the Enlightenment Virus, I believe we have succeeded in staying true 
to those principles of enlightenment we hoped to share with the world.”

There was a smattering of applause.

Belize is an interesting country. Its proximity to the U.S.A, its 
impenetrable jungles and its corruptible officials, make it an ideal 
location to establish a research facility of this type. However, similar to 
the rest of Central America, Belize is also prone to regular and often 
destructive seismic activity. So perhaps one could have predicted the very 
slight possibility that at the precise moment Bene and Goates moved to 
disarm the release button a seismic shock registering 7.2 on the Richer 
scale, and with an epicenter only kilometers from the laboratory, would 
surge up deep from within the earth’s crust.

Of course, the facility was designed to withstand earthquakes up to a scale 
of 9 on the Richter scale. Indeed, the structure held together marvelously 
well. Unlike Bene’s and Goates’ abilities to hold their balance. And as they 
toppled forward onto the blinking green button, one could be forgiven for 
thinking that it was a piece of theatrics only a very skilled show person 
could have staged. Almost immediately, in thosands of locations around the 
world, the Enlightenment Virus is released...

And the moral of the story? Well, sometimes, Enlightenment has to be given 
an extra nudge along.

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